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From the Contents of Esoteric Classes

Esoteric Lessons Part III: Berlin, 4-25-'14

EL,
Berlin, 4-25-'14

Last time we
spoke about how the soul should spread out ever more and pour out
into space, and then contract into itself to see what is weaving
within it. For these formulas were given to you, dear sisters
and brothers, which can be used at will and also be passed on to
other people who didn't attend all classes. Today another
thought will be placed before your souls, something concrete, a mood
that can help you to get into the spiritual world. Let's recall what
happens in sleep. The etheric and physical bodies remain in bed while
the astral body and ego are outside in the spiritual world. Why is it
that a man doesn't experience the world he's in during sleep
consciously like he experiences the physical world in day
consciousness? Because during the time a man is asleep he has a
strong urge to return to his physical body. This longing is
like a darkening of the brightness of the spiritual
world, so that he doesn't perceive the latter at all. The astral
forces that are active in him there work so strongly that he wouldn't
leave the physical body at all, if it wasn't so tired and used up and
didn't so urgently need strengthening and refreshment through sleep.
This drive or longing for his physical body is what prevents a man
from consciously experiencing spiritual worlds during sleep. If he
were clairvoyant he would see bright rays going from his astral body
and ego to his physical and etheric bodies the longing for reunion is
expressed in them. Let's suppose someone suddenly became clairvoyant
during sleep; how would he see himself? When we meet someone on
the physical plane we encounter his physical form in which an
ego lives. Things are different in the spiritual world; we shouldn't
think that we see someone there in the same form as on the
physical plane. Here in the physical world we see single things
separate from each other with sharp contours; but what weaves in the
spiritual world are mobile pictures which we recognize to be
spirits of higher hierarchies who send out their helpers to
give the right expression to the human form. These messengers of the
Spirits of Form are as it were still at the child hood stage, but
they'll work themselves higher to the degree that they
cultivate the human ego. Another host of elemental beings float
around man's head and guard the ego-being. They work on his thinking
and were sent out by Spirits of Movement and Spirits of Form. Other
elemental beings, emissaries of Spirits of Wisdom, work on
man's heart and bring about the circulation. Then there are
elemental beings who work on man's warmth sense. In the spiritual
world warmth arises from the relation between two beings, rather than
from a particular source.

Other
elemental beings work at the word sense, that is, not on the spoken
words that one can hear from others, but these beings stand
behind the single consonants and vowels that make up a word;
they work on the composition of letters and syllables. One who is
outside of his body can't understand words that are spoken; he lacks
the physical organ for this; but he watches elemental beings as
they bring single letters together to form a word. Man has 12 senses
and not just 5, as conventional science would have you
believe: sight, thinking, warmth, equilibrium, word, life,
smell, taste, hearing, touch, movement and ego senses. Standing
behind these 12 senses are elemental beings who are the servants and
helpers of Spirits of Form, Movement and Wisdom. These
elemental beings are still children, as it were, but to the extent
that a man advances and develops himself up to Jupiter these
elemental messengers of the higher hierarchies will also
develop; some day they'll be Jupiter's zodiac after the earth
has gone through its seven rounds and everything emerges again
in a new configuration. Just as what previously worked on us on
the Moon and now stands behind our senses has become the earth's
zodiac. Jupiter will also have a sun and beings who now work into our
blood system will stand behind it. It's only with the greatest awe
and admiration that we can see how hosts of elemental beings
are working on the wonderful temple of the human body.

My dear
brothers and sisters, put yourself in this mood in earnest meditation
on how countless elemental beings build up the wonderful temple
that is to be the dwelling of the human I.

Why is it
that we don't see these elemental beings at work? Because the moment
we wake up the Guardian of the Threshold conceals the spiritual
worlds from us. Waking up means that we shoo away these
elemental beings from their working place. And as soon as we're
in day consciousness Ahriman sees to it that the spiritual world is
covered for us. He paints the picture of the sense world, and as we
devote ourselves to maya — the great deceiver — the
beings or souls that work on man's spiritual organization disappear
for us. The physical body that we know is all a product of Ahriman,
whereas we must know that the soul life that we merely experience in
the physical body is Lucifer's work. He fills our soul with so
much pride and blindness that it gets wrong ideas and feelings about
the spiritual world.